*VII*
When I came to the wall I beheld a half-score of the hide-boats beingpropelled over the lake, and four or five of the new-made platforms,each one pressed down by the burthen of men upon it. The number of ourassailants was, I suppose, above a hundred, and against them we had lessthan a score. These by my appointment had taken post along the wall,having, besides their weapons, fragments of rock gathered from theruinous battlements, stink-pots of homely device, and such othermissiles as the people had been able to prepare. Of firearms we had buttwo old rusty pieces, my own pistol and the guns of my men having beensent away the night before with the succours dispatched to KedaghO'Hagan. But I observed joyfully that our assaulters were in littlebetter case in that regard, for when their quaint, unsteady vessels hadcome within shot of us, they discharged upon us only two or threebullets, which did us no harm, so ill-directed were they. My man Stubbsand another fellow gave them a shot apiece in reply, or rather theywould have done, had not Stubbs' musket burst in his hand, one of thefragments striking his brow and stunning him for some time. He bore themark of it to his dying day.
As for the other men, I had charged them to do nothing until theadversary should come directly beneath the wall. In their haste andeagerness they did not all obey my behest, but the most part did, sothat the vessels, when they drew in under, were assailed by a tempest ofmissiles which did much execution, and sent one of the frail barks ofhide topsy-turvy to the bottom. Our garrison suffered no hurt at thisfirst onset, save that one foolish old man, forgetful of my warning tocover himself with the wall, peered over to see what had been done, andfell with a dart in his throat.
But we being so few, certain of the enemy's vessels escaped hurtaltogether; and were no sooner beneath the wall than their crews hoistedthe ladders, and fixing the hooks in crevices and gaps of the stonework,began incontinently to swarm aloft. Even the ladders were more innumber than all the men of the garrison, and had Rory Mac Shanepossessed a jot of generalship, it would have gone hardly with us. Buthe had taken no care that all his men should begin to mount at the sameinstant. Every man did what seemed good in his own eyes, so that wewere able to run from one ladder to another, and with push of pike, orknife-thrust, or indeed with bare fists, to hurl the climbers down intothe water or upon their platforms, ere they could make good theirfooting on the wall. This was, moreover, the easier for us, inasmuch asonly one man could ascend each ladder at one time.
Yet we were hard put to it, I assure you. I had posted Stubbs at oneend of our spread line, holding myself at the other, both of us ready tohasten to any spot that might seem more desperately menaced. So nimblewere the attackers that we had much ado to convey ourselves with speedenough from point to point, and I am sure that neither he nor I had everin our lives before so vigorously bestirred ourselves. Not once nortwice did we come in the bare nick of time where the danger threatened,and it being midday, and hot, we were soon reeking with our sweat.
From the beginning I had marked Rory Mac Shane himself, and kept asclose a watch upon him as in the press and hurry I could. Being, as Ihave said, a man of monstrous bulk, he was not so nimble in his motionsas the leaner fry, nor did not essay to mount upon a ladder among thefirst. But as I turned from dealing with one hardy climber, I espiedMac Shane, a good way off, swing himself from the top of his ladder andthrow one leg across the wall, plying a doughty sword against an ancientservitor that sought to stay him with his pike. At the very instant ofmy espying him, he cleft the pike shaft clean through with his blade,and dealt the old man so grievous a wound that he dropt to the ground,coughing out his life-blood. I had leapt towards him, and immediatelyafterwards came upon him a-tilt; and having the advantage of him, asbeing balanced insecurely on the wall, I doubt not I should have spedhim but that the dying man lay heaped between us. Whereby my sweepingstroke failed somewhat of its full momentum, and Mac Shane turned mysword aside as it was in the very act of falling upon his head. Butgiving back before my onslaught, he was dislodged from his perch, andtoppled with a lusty shout backward into the water.
I had not time to look what had become of him, even had it been prudentto show my head above the parapet, being drawn to another part of thewall on a like errand. But after a minute or two, when I noted afaltering in the attack, I supposed that he had at the least got somedamage, and hoped that it was grievous enough to render him unable forfurther fighting. There came no more men up the ladders; which seeing,we clambered upon the wall, and beheld the whole rout setting theircraft towards the shore, some few, who had lost their standing, swimmingby their side. We sped them on their way with a shower of whatsoevermissiles we could first lay hands upon, and discovered that in the hurryof their flight they had left two of their ladders still hooked upon thewall. These we took as trophies. I was nowise ill-pleased to see RoryMac Shane in his boat bearing marks of his discomfiture, his yellow hairfalling lank like seaweed over his cheeks, and his obese frame seemingsomewhat shrunken by reason that his sodden clothing hung more closelyupon him.
When I turned from observing him, the Lady Sheila met me, bearing abrimming cup of mead.
"'Tis nectar, from a hand fair as Hebe's," said I, quaffing deeply.
The lustre left her face, and she looked stonily upon me, whereat insome surprise I said--
"Why, mistress, have I said aught amiss?"
"Nay, sir, what you say is naught to me, but--but I like not to beequalled with some English wench."
"Good now!" said I, and could not forbear smiling. "Know you, mistress,that Hebe was no English wench, but a fair maiden of most illustriouslineage, daughter of gods, herself a goddess, eternally young, and heroffice was to bear the wine-cup of the high Olympians, and I bethink meshe was given as wife to Hercules himself."
"Oh, mock me not with your Hebes and your Hercules!" she cried in a pet."I wish I had not brought you drink."
"Nay, madam, for that I thank you heartily; and I shall hope to give youa better opinion of those of whom the poets sing, after this business isconcluded."
"A long after, I fear me," she said, with a look of trouble.
"Why no; I trow we have taught them a lesson," I said.
"You English are puffed up with your own conceit," she cried scornfully."Think you an Irishman, and Rory Mac Shane, will be daunted by onefailure? He is reputed the best fighter of all men hereabout. Butindeed, Master Rudd"--and 'twas marvellous how sudden her mood wouldchange--"indeed, we talk idly, when my poor servants lie wounded. Helpme, good sir, to tend them."
"Two are past help, madam," I said gravely; "the rest have sufferedlittle hurt."
She flew from me to the old man slain by Rory Mac Shane, and I saw thefair maid drop upon her knees, and breathe a prayer with moist eyes forthe poor soul departed.
There was peace and a great quietude all that afternoon, though I tookit to be that ominous calm which oft precedes a storm. Ever and anonthere came to my ears from the distant woodland the ringing of axes, andI guessed that more ladders were to be made, and my heart sank; for withtwice the number the adversaries would be too many for us to deal withpiecemeal. But the day wore to evening, and the sun went down, and yetthere was nothing done. I had set watchmen upon the battlements, toinform me if they saw aught; but when the country was blanketed indarkness, and the silence was unbroken save by the croaking of frogsabout the margin of the lake, I supposed that our foes were taking theirrest, to fortify themselves against the labours of another day.
It wanted an hour or two of midnight when my man Stubbs came to me fromhis outpost on the walls, and told me that the fleet of rafts andhide-boats had put forth from the shore, and was approaching in aghostly silence. Now I have never held it a part of valiancy in a truewarrior to oppose himself to invincible odds. My men being so few andweak, 'twas against reason that they should withstand a more numerousfoe, who, taught by precedent mishap, would without question avoid theirformer errors, and, covered by the darkness, set up their ladders moreth
ickly than we could counter. I shrank from throwing lives awayvainly, and saw that we must abandon our outer rampart, and shutourselves within the keep, whereto there was but one entrance, from thecourtyard, and behind whose massy door I thought we should be safe.Accordingly I gathered all my company and withdrew them into the keep,barring the door with my own hand, and I sent the men into thewatch-house above the door, bidding them hurl their missiles upon theheads of the enemy when they should make to assault us.
My prescience was approved ere many minutes were past. Looking from awindow in the keep, I saw the wall thick with dark shapes mounting frominnumerable ladders, and leaping down into the courtyard with scarce asound. Some of them turned about, and began to haul on ropes, and therecame over the wall two or three of their rafts, whereat I wondered, notdivining what purpose these could serve. But in a little I saw theircunning device, for the Irishmen hoisted the rafts upon their shoulders,and employing them in the manner of what the Romans called a testudo,advanced, thus defended, towards the door of the keep. The missileslaunched on them from above bounded off from those broad shields, as Iknew by hearing rather than sight, for being now come within the shadowof the keep they were no longer visible.
Expecting a vehement onset upon the door, I ran down and posted myselfwith Stubbs and two or three more at the foot of the stairway. MistressO'Hagan, in defiance of my express charge, had not taken refuge upon theroof with her household women, but stayed in a little room hard by thefirst winding of the stair. As it fell out, this flat obstinacy turnedto our advantage.
We waited there at the foot of the stair, holding our weapons inreadiness; but when, after some time, no assault was made upon the door,I began to be uneasy, and wished I might contrive to see what wasa-doing. We were in utter darkness, and such poor candles as werecommonly used would not suffice to cast an effectual light a yard lengthbeyond the wall; but a thought coming into my head, I bade Stubbs takecommand of the men, and running upstairs to the lady, asked her if shehad any means of making torches or flares. Instantly she led me by aback stair to a lower room where was a quantity of tow, and while Ishredded this and fashioned it to my purpose, she fetched me a pot ofswine's lard and two long and slender chains. Then returning to theupper room, we kindled these flares, and let them down over thewindow-sill into the courtyard, amid a great outcry from the enemy. Bytheir light we saw the courtyard swarming with men, and our people wereable to take surer aim with their missiles; but we had little good ofthem, as you shall see.
I observed that the penthouse of rafts was still about the door, and wasmuch perplexed as to what was a-doing there. On a sudden the rafts fellwith a clatter upon the ground, and the men whom they had sheltered ranswiftly towards the wall, whither their comrades had retreated so asthey might be the farthest possible from our missiles. The meaning oftheir behaviour flashed upon my mind, and in my haste letting fall thechain I held, I caught Mistress Sheila about the waist, and carried herswiftly into her inner room. I had but just set her down, she stillgrasping her chain, when from below there burst a shattering din, andthe keep seemed to rock upon its base. Springing down the stairs, Irushed into the bitter smother of gunpowder smoke, and saw by the lightof my dropped flare, that shone through a rent in the door, the men Ihad left thrown down in a heap upon the floor. One of them was dead,but the rest, though bruised and shaken, recovered from their benumbmentin time to stand with me upon the lowest stairs, before the enemy,leaping across the courtyard, came with fierce shouts to enter by thebreach they had made.
Happily it was so narrow as that only two men could come throughabreast, and the stair wound in such sort that we had free play for ourright arms, while the enemy were impeded by the round of the wall. Soclose cramped were we that there was no place for the subtleties offence, in which we might have had some superiority over our less skilledadversaries. Stubbs and I, standing the lowest, plied our swords, madefor nicer work, with mere vehemency, beating aside the weapons of ourassailants, and using our points whenever we could. Behind us were twoIrishmen armed with pikes, which they thrust between us, with no smallrisk to ourselves; and yet higher, a man hurled stones over our headsupon the thickening crowd.
The stairway rang with the clash of steel, the shouts of the enemy, andthe groans of such as fell to our weapons. So little light had we fromthe expiring flare, and so confused was the mellay, that for some littlewhile I was unable to discern the form of him I especially sought; butat length I perceived Rory Mac Shane striding over the prone bodies atthe foot of the stairs, and mounting among three or four of his men. Iwas thinking to hazard a swift descent upon him, but anon a musket shotfrom the door struck the pikeman behind me, and he lurched against me,so that I could barely keep my feet. Another of my good Irishmenstooped to lift the pike that had fallen from his comrade's hand, and indefending him I crossed the guard of Rory Mac Shane, and gave him thepoint of my sword in the throat at the opening of his tunic. He skippedback in time to escape mortal hurt, and at that instant a man one stepbelow him lunged fiercely, and thrust the point of his long spearthrough the calf of my right leg. Mac Shane was roaring with pain, andupon his stepping back to staunch his wound, his followers drew away,giving us some respite, whereby I was able to make a shift to bind myhandkerchief about my hurt. As I bent down I staggered and would havefallen but for the sustaining arm of Stubbs. My faintness filled mewith dread; I would have given a world for a cup of water; and Isickened with dismay as I thought of what the end might be if mydraining blood left me no strength to endure the fight.
I CROSSED THE GUARD OF RORY MAC SHANE, AND GAVE HIM THEPOINT OF MY SWORD]
The intermission was brief. Mac Shane gathered a little group abouthim, and setting up before them a portion of one of their rafts, theycharged with the utmost impetuosity up the stairs. We were drivenbefore them, hacking vainly at their shield. I cried to the man aboveme to stand by the door at the first landing; then bidding Stubbs runfor his life, I made one more desperate onslaught upon the raft, andlimping up with what speed I might, I slammed the door in the face ofthe enemy, and fell in much pain and giddiness upon the floor.
There coming out of my swoon I found my lady kneeling beside me, holdinga cup from which she had poured wine between my lips. By the light of acandle which Stubbs had kindled I saw her face, ashy pale, but bendingupon me so sweetly compassionate a look as shed upon my spirit abundantsolace for my pain. I asked if all was well, and heard with no littleamazement that an hour had gone since I shut-to the door, which theenemy had refrained as yet from anyways assaulting. I conjectured thatthey were biding their time till morning illumined the scene, being inno dubiety of the ultimate act, since they had us caged like rats in atrap. Indeed, they might wait for famine to vanquish us, unlessperchance they had some dread of the return of Kedagh O'Hagan. That wecould resist them long had no hope at all, for the upper doors might beforced more easily than the great door below, and we should be pressedback to the roof, where, overpowered by their greater numbers, we mustsuccumb. It seemed that my eyes were the index to my thoughts, forlooking earnestly upon me, the lady said--
I FOUND MY LADY KNEELING BESIDE ME, HOLDING A CUP]
"Good sir, you shall suffer no more for me. 'Tis not meet that astranger lose his life in so poor a cause."
"Nay, madam," said I, "the cause is good, and the stranger not sostrange neither. Besides, what will you do?"
"I will purchase your safety by yielding of the castle," said she.
"And Rory Mac Shane?" I hinted.
She winced a little, and a shudder ran through her.
"There is always the lake," she said in a whisper.
"O that I had a troop of Hilary Rawdon's men, or Toby Caulfeild's, orany other my companions?" I groaned out, as the meaning of her wordssmote upon my perception. And then, to ease the time, she questioned meof those friends I had mentioned; and as we talked of matchless doingsby land and sea, beguiling thus our anxious spirits, the dawn crept uponus, and the sweet descan
t of a lark's song floated in at the openwindow.
"'Hark, hark, the lark at heaven's gate sings,'" I said, using WillShakespeare's words. "Methinks that warble is of good augury for us."
And as I rose stiffly to my feet, I heard faintly through the door theclash and rumble of armed men stirring below.
"Get you upon the roof, mistress," I said hastily, taking my sword, andthough I spoke masterfully, in a manner that had angered her before, shemade no opposition, but flitted away, turning at the bend of the stairto give me a last look, mute but eloquent.
I dispatched all the men but three to the roof, bidding them hold thetrap open for the final retreat. Hardly were they gone when thereresounded a shattering blow upon the door. With my three men I stoodupon the stairway, commending myself to God, and presently the door fellin before the redoubled assaults of a ram which the enemy had contrivedto make, and there burst upon us Rory Mac Shane and a cluster of hisminions. They were beset by so fierce a hail of stones from above thatthey gave back, but returned directly, bearing the shield of wood whichwe had aforetime proved invulnerable. Little by little the vehemency oftheir onset drove us back from one step to another. One of my Irishmengasped out his life as a musket shot channelled his lungs. I heard mygood Stubbs groan, and knew by and by that a dart had transfixed hisarm. In that extremity I looked for Sergeant Death to lay hisperemptory arrest upon me; but on a sudden, from above, I heard mylady's voice cry with a ringing gladness that help was at hand. Whetherthe adversary understood her words I know not, but their import was notto be mistaken. Their fierce shouts sank to a sudden stillness; theirascent was stayed; and from below there rose the cries of men strickenwith astonishment and fear. And as our near opponents halted in thepause of irresolution, I took a leap, and lighting full upon theirwooden shield, dashed it and the men beneath pell-mell to the landing.And Rory Mac Shane, casting up his arms when he found himself staggeringbackward, bared his great breast to the unchecked thrust of my sword,which passing clean through him bored a passage for his soul.